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Open-world survival game ARK: Survival Evolved was one of the bigger early access games back in 2015, eventually launching a couple of years later on PS4, Xbox One and Steam and gathering 13 million players in the process. Now the title is coming to mobile devices as a free-to-play game. Publisher Studio Wildcard promises the same online experience as the PC and console versions, including a massive island to explore, more than 80 dinosaurs to tame, crafting and building features and multiplayer tribes to join.

Netflix is looking to replace its slide-out menu with something much more visible and easier to access, based on the new user interface it's releasing to beta testers. As Android Police has noted, the streaming platform has started testing a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, completely getting rid of the hamburger menu you'd have to tap to get to the slide-out panel. The new design will make it easier to access your offline downloads and to see what's coming soon. Netflix also moved the Search function from the upper right portion of the screen to the bottom bar, where it gets a bigger icon.

Gboard is making it easier to look for the perfect emoji, sticker and GIF in one go -- at least for beta testers on Android. As 9to5google reports, the keyboard's latest beta update adds a "Search all media" option that surfaces all the results it has on offer that corresponds to your query. So, if you search for a smiley face, it brings up all the emoji, all the stickers and all the GIFs you can use at the same time. To find the new search bar, tap on the Google icon, then any of the other icons that pop up and then the search button that appears on the bottom left-hand part of the keyboard.

You can now take the lite version of Google Maps for a spin if you're in the US. Google has opened the beta version of Maps Go to US beta testers, giving you a way to look up directions or transit info even if you're an area with poor connection. Google launched Android Oreo Go December last year, but Maps Go didn't become available until mid-January. It was only compatible with very, very few (mostly Oreo Go) devices, though, and availability was limited to a few locations. Android Police has noticed the rollout first and has managed to install it even on regular non-Go Android phones.

Android phonemaker Essential is skipping over Android Oreo 8.0 despite running a beta program for the platform these past two months. Apparently, it discovered several stability issues in 8.0 during testing, which it believes will be addressed by 8.1. So, instead of rolling out 8.0 to the public, the company has decided to "focus [its] energy" on its successor. The downside is that it will push back Oreo's release to the Andy Rubin-designed Essential phones a few weeks, but those who can't wait that long can always sign up for 8.1's beta release.

Brits can now ask their iThings to give them a brief update on what's happening in the world with the command: "Hey Siri, give me the news." Siri doesn't actually read the news, though, and instead will automatically play the latest podcast from a trusted source of your choice. I was treated to a 2-minute bulletin from BBC News when I said the magic words to Siri this morning, which also offered Sky News and LBC up as alternative sources.

That fancy new Roomba you got over the holidays could help suss out your home's WiFi weak spots this month. A forthcoming patch will add a wireless coverage map to the Roomba's vacuum heat map. From the sounds of it, the test group for this new feature could be relatively tiny.

Were you disappointed that the OnePlus 5T launched with Android Nougat despite Oreo having launched weeks earlier? You can rectify that today, if you're willing to experiment. OnePlus has posted an open OxygenOS beta that brings Oreo's features to the 5T. You now have Android 8.0 staples like picture-in-picture viewing and autofill text. The launcher also has a few tweaks, including the merger of app shortcuts and icon options as well as the option of uploading brag-worthy photos to Shot on OnePlus.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) has been this year's biggest surprise. Since launching on Steam Early Access in late March, the game, which conceptually started life as a DayZ mod, has picked up 25 million players on PC, not to mention a marketing and publishing deal from Microsoft for an Xbox One version. This week, version 1.0 arrives on Steam, gaining a second map and new instant replay feature in the process.

But for PUBG Corp CEO Chang Han Kim, even though the game is losing its beta status, work is far from finished. "When we first started this project and thought of the Early Access model, we never took it as a model where you start developing a game, you complete it, you ship it out and then be done with it," Kim said through a translator. "As long as we have fans out there playing our game, it will never be complete."

Microsoft's revamped Mixer app is coming out of beta. Back in October the company announced it was working on redesigning the livestreaming app to make it easier to find new and relevant gaming broadcasts. Features included a reworked Trending section, a featured streams carousel and better filters, among others. The team has completely pulled apart Mixer's existing underlying framework to rebuild it on a brand new code base, which means updates and bug fixes should come faster than ever.

It's been a while since the Unicode Emoji Consortium released its sixth set of proposed emojis last June, with a follow up in August (which offered up a drunken face and unhappy poo, oddly enough). Now the consortium has given developers the first Emoji 11 beta, which contains 130 draft emojis, including a female superhero, a lobster and a party face. There's no trace of the sad poo and that makes us, well, sad.

If you happen to have an Oculus Rift headset and want to try its big interface makeovers, you won't have to wait long. As promised, Oculus has confirmed that both its Rift Core 2.0 VR interface and the companion desktop app redesign will be available in public beta form sometime in December. Rift Core 2.0 is unsurprisingly the most conspicuous update -- it's reworked to center around Oculus Touch control, and adds a dashboard you can access from virtually anywhere. You can use Rift 2.0 on Windows 7 or later, although you'll need Windows 10 if you want the dashboard to overlay on top of running apps or to give your desktop apps a virtual display.

Android smartphone maker Essential has opened Android 8.0 Oreo beta access for its flagship handset, the Essential phone. The software was released for Pixel phones in August and hit the Galaxy S8 and S8+ earlier this month, so Essential is one of the first brands to get the update. Oreo comes with a bunch of significant changes, such as refreshed menus, badge notifications and improvements to speed and battery life.

Music streaming service Deezer moved beyond Bose and Sonos speakers a couple of months ago in US markets, expanding its subscription offerings to pretty much everyone via a mobile app. Around the same time, Deezer opened up its HiFi tier to any speaker with Chromecast built-in. Now, the company is bringing exclusive video content and a free trial of Deezer's $20 per month HiFi service to a new desktop app for macOS and Windows.

As we noted back in September, iOS 11's Control Center buttons don't actually turn off Bluetooth or WiFi, unlike previous versions. Instead, tapping on either one simply disconnects you from any devices or services your iPhone is currently connected to. Apple ostensibly made this change so that you could stay connected to other services like AirDrop and devices like your Apple Watch. Still, the behavior can be confusing to many. According to MacRumors, the latest iOS 11.2 beta gives you an explanatory notification when you tap either Control Center button.

If you've been waiting like we have for Apple to finally launch its Venmo-like competitor after the release of iOS 11, now's the time. According to reports at TechCrunch and CNET, Apple is soft launching peer-to-peer money transfer via iOS 11.2 beta right in the Messages app.

Are you champing at the bit waiting for a taste of what the next Galaxy phone will be like? You don't have to wait until 2018. Samsung is launching a public beta for Experience 9.0, its customized take on Android Oreo that will show up on the next Galaxy flagship. As of November 2nd, "select" Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus owners (more on that later) in South Korea, the UK and the US will get to peek at the next-gen interface in return for feedback on performance and usability.

Microsoft is continuing its quest to make Mixer as good a livestreaming experience on your phone as it is on your PC back home. It just launched a beta mobile app whose cornerstone is a redesigned Trending section that focuses on finding new game broadcasts. There's a carousel that flips through featured streams, and sections that highlight the hottest games and trending streams. It's now much easier to filter streams by type (such as co-op or interactive), and there's a new Following section to jump directly to the channels you already know.

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is arriving early next week (October 17th), but it looks like Xbox One users will get some new software toys soon, too. Microsoft has released the Xbox One fall preview update to everyone on the Delta and Omega Insider rings, that is too say, the bulk of its beta testers. Those folks will get the much-anticipated Fluent Design for Xbox One that lets you customize the dashboard the way you want, pinning favorite games, apps and people to the home page.

From the stage at Oculus Connect 4, Oculus' Nate Mitchell just announced Rift Core 2.0. It's designed around Touch, offering a motion-control-focused interface that apes a lot of what hackers have been doing with BigScreen. The big addition is Dash, which as its name implies, is a dashboard accessible from within any VR app or experience. It lets you use your desktop apps within VR, too. "It's a total game changer," Mitchell said. You can permanently pin something to the dashboard, too. "Every application can have its own virtual display," Mitchell said.

Whether it's the cinematic campaign, the much-improved space combat or simply being able to pilot ships as the franchise's favorite muppet wizard, there's a lot to look forward to when Star Wars Battlefront II hits store shelves on November 17th. Lucky for everyone, beta versions of the game are available to play on PC, PS4 and Xbox One this weekend, starting today.

Signal, the encrypted chat app preferred by the US Senate, has finally launched profiles -- but only as part of its latest beta release. You can now add a photo and a display name to make group chats less confusing. But since this is Signal we're talking about, it's not as straightforward as other apps': your photo and name, like your messages, are end-to-end encrypted.

If you're still watching Hulu on your Xbox 360, here's some great news for you. The on-demand streaming service has just expanded its new "Hulu Experience" interface to the almost 12-year-old Microsoft console. The best part is that you won't have to do a thing — the update will happen automatically. Plus, you'll have the option to subscribe to Hulu's live TV plan, currently in beta, right from your console.

If you like being on the bleeding edge and aren't afraid of a few bugs, the Google Home Preview Program is now available to anyone who wants to sign up, as 9 to 5 Google noticed recently. If you'd rather not be an AI assistant guinea pig, fear not. When Google first announced the program, it assured users that "this is not beta software." Rather, it is production quality, and users are "simply getting earlier access to new features before they're released broadly."

While it's still just a beta release, the latest version of Google Maps (9.59.0, available as an APK installation) has some new features worth looking at. Key among those is a "questions & answers" section that lets you pose a query about a restaurant or attraction like the Eiffel Tower. In response, you can "get advice from the owner & broader community," according to Google, including from Local Guides or other experts.